Railway axle positioning device



1968 P. LADOUES ETAL 3,367,233

RAILWAY AXLE POSITIONING DEVICE Filed Aug. 23, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTORS Pierre Laudes Henr/ Lacosfe-Tuzan ATTORNEYS Feb. 6, 1968 P.LADOUES ETAL 3,367,283

RAILWAY AXLE POSITIONING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 25, 1965INVENTORS Pierre Lauoes Henri Lacosfe- Tuzan BY X9 m Cal- 4 yaw/MMATTORNEYS Feb. 6, 1968 R LADOUES ETAL 3,367,283

RAILWAY AXLE POSITI ONING DEVICE INVENTORS Pierre Louaes Henri Lacosfe-Tuzan WMMfM ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,367,283 RAILWAY AXLEPOSITIONING DEVICE Pierre Ladones, 183 Rue Saint Genes (Gironde),Bordeaux,

and Henri Lacoste-Tuzan, Prechac-sur-Adour (Gers),

France Filed Aug. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 481,592 Claims priority,application France, Nov 4, 1960, 843,083, Patent 1,278,741 3 Claims.(Cl. 10432) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for positioning theaxles of wheels of a railway vehicle in a vertical plane through thecenter of a a reprofiling bench. The device includes retractable trackmeans, forming an extension of the conventional tracks, and pairs ofroller means mounted on a horizontal axis symmetrical with respect to avertical plane through the center of vertically movable receiving meansto receive one of the wheels of the axle between each pair of rollers.The receiving means are vertically moved to contact and rotate the wheelthus causing the axis of the axle to move to a position coincident withthe vertical axis of the symmetry of the slide means.

The profiles of railway wheels become deformed during normal operation,and it is necessary to reform them when certain limits are reached.

It is frequently advantageous to carry out the necessary reformingoperations on a special machine which is known as a bench forreprofiling in position, which enables the work to be carried outwithout having to remove the axles from the vehicle.

The present invention has as an object to provide a device permittingthe correct placing into position of an axle unit, comprising an axleand pair of wheels attached thereto, on a reprofiling bench whilecentering it with perfect accuracy.

The device comprises essentially two vertically movable wheel supportmeans formed at two extremities of a frame. Each wheel support isequipped with two rollers, the horizontal axes of which are strictlysymmetrical with respect to a vertical plane through the center of thewheel support and the reprofiling bench. The rollers are mechanicallydriven and tangentially drive the wheels of the axle when they arebrought into contact therewith. The device, according to the invention,operates in the following manner: The axle unit to be re formed isbrought to the work station by moving the unit of rolling stock on whichit is incorporated. The arrangements of track on the reprofiling benchare such that the flange portions of the wheels roll onto the rollingtable of retractable rails. The retractable rails preferably have aspecial profile design to insure the guiding of the wheel by theirinternal faces. The wheel tires are thus sufficiently freed for the axleunit to be lifted by the rollers on the wheel support members. Therollers support the wheels on their rolling contact surface or tire.

The axle unit is first brought between and above the rollers, withoutbeing precisely located relative to their plane of symmetry, and withany angular position with respect to the longitudinal axis of thetracks. The rollers are started into rotation, in one direction or theother, depending upon the position of the axle with respect to thevertical plane of symmetry. The wheel support members are raised untilthe rollers come into contact with the wheels. As soon as a roller makescontact with a tire of the wheels, the latter begins to rotate thereby3,367,283 Patented Feb. 6, 1968 "ice causing the movement of the axleunit to its final posiion. Clearly, the direction of rotation of therollers is independent of the placement of the axle between the pairs ofrollers. Whatever the initial position of the axle, relative to theplane of symmetry, it will be repositioned as the rollers begin torotate the wheel in either direction. The effect of rotating the rollerswill be to provide a drive surface which will cause the wheel to bemoved to the desired position between the rollers. All four rollers mustbe driven in the same direction, but the direction itself is of littleconsequence.

When the tires of the two wheels are in contact with the four rollers,the vertical plane passing through the axis of the axle is coincidentwith the plane of symmetry of the rollers.

The axle unit is finally brought to the desired height by raising theroller carrying wheel support members.

The invention will now be described by reference to the accompanyingdrawings dealing with a basic embodiment of the present invention inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of the device with the axle unit roughlypositioned;

FIG. 1a is a cross section through line 1A1A of FIG. 1 illustrating awheel on a retractable rail;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of the device at the time of the firstcontact between the roller and the wheel;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view of the device shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the device after the rollers and slider haveelevated the wheel;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view of the device shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an axial cross section of a wheel support member showing theroller drive means; and

FIG. 8 is a cross section of a reprofiling bench equipped with theinvention.

Referring generally to FIGS. 1 to 6 and FIGS. 1 and 2 particularly, adevice according to the invention comprises two parallel spaced wheelsupport members 5, each carrying two parallel, spaced rollers 4 havinghorizontal axes symmetrical with respect to a vertical plane X takenthrough the center of the wheel support members 5. The wheels 1 of theaxle unit 8 are brought in the direction of the arrow F from the normalI-shaped track 2 to the retractable rails 3, which are located above andinwardly of the initial position of the rollers 4. The position of theaxis Y of the axle on the rails 3 is initially located in any positionabove and between the rollers 4.

The rack 3 is preferably an L-shaped member, as shown in FIG. 1A, withriser portion 3a being a guide and the lateral extension 3b being theload support portion. The retracting means has been illustrated asdouble-acting, double-piston hydraulic cylinders 6. Of course, anysuitable means can be used to retract the rails 3.

After the initial positioning (and referring to FIGS. 3 and 4), thewheel support members 5 are moved upwardly adjacent to and externally ofrails 3 by means of hydraulic rams 7 or other elevating mechanisms. Therollers 4 will come into contact with the wheels at which time they aredriven into rotation in the appropriate direction so as to rotate thewheel 1 in the direction indicated by the arrow F The axis Y of the axle8 will be moved so as to take up a position parallel to the plane X.When rollers 4 have been raised sufficiently so that each rollercontacts the wheel, then the axis Y and plane X will be coincident (asshown in FIGS. 5 and 6). Retracting means 6 will be actuated to moverails 3 out of the way of the machining operation.

A reprofiling bench, according to the invention is shown in FIG. 7. Thebench comprises two wheel support means 101 and 102 which are movedvertically with respect to the reprofiling bench bases 103 and 104 whichare secured to the foundation 100 of the reprofiling bench. Each of thewheel support members is provided with rollers 105 and 106 respectively.A wheel unit 107 with axle 107"is shown in driving position on therollers. The retractable rails 108 and 109 are shown in the retractedposition with the double-acting, double-piston hydraulic cylinder 110between them.

Each wheel support member 101 and 102 can be raised vertically by meansof hydraulic jacks 111 and 112. Any lifting means capable of supplyingthe necessary force may be utilized. The adjustment in height of theaxis of the axle to be machined can be effected: either by actuating thejacks of each slide separately and checking against vertical scales,(not shown), which may be fixed on the bases 103 and 104; or byactuating all the jacks simultaneously to a position representing apredetermined end of travel. The axle will be clamped between the tailstocks 113 and 114 for the machining operation.

The vertical plane of symmetry of the rollers is defined geometricallywith respect to the constituent elements of the reprofiling bench sothat: the cutting edges of the tools are located in this plane; the axisof the centers provided on the tail stocks 113 and 114 are also in thisplane when the turning is effected between centers.

The rollers are rotatably driven from driving shafts by means of amechanical coupling which is shown in FIG. 8. The driving means has beenshown schematically in FIG. 8 as motor 116. The motor 116 has a drivenpinion 117 which drives gear 118 thereby driving shaft 119 having gear120 mounted thereon. A pair of sprocket gears 115 are fixedly attachedon one end of each shaft 115a. The rollers 105 are fixedly attached tothe other end of these shafts. A link chain belt 121 mechanicallyconnects gear 120 with sprocket gears 115 and provides the means totransmit the driving motion of the motor to the rollers. In machining,the rollers can be employed only as carrier rollers if the turning ofthe wheel is effected by driving the axle unit from the independentdriving equipment of the railway unit.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for positioning the axle wheel units of a railway vehicle ona vertical plane through the center of a reprofiling bench comprisingtrack means leading to said reprofiling bench, a termination point onsaid track means, retractable track means disposed adjacent to thetermination point and in alignment therewith, said retractable trackmeans comprising an L-shaped mem ber, wheel guide means formed by thevertical extension of said L-shaped member, wheel support means formedby the horizontal extension of said L-shaped member,

said retractable track means being positioned so that said wheel supportmeans receives only the flange portion of said railway vehicle wheel,means to retract said retractable track means, receiving means mountedadjacent to and exteriorly of said retractable track means and laterallycentered in said reprofiling bench, roller means mounted on saidreceiving means in symmetrical spaced relationship to the vertical planethrough the center of said receiving means, driving means operativelyconnected to said roller means, means for vertically moving saidreceiving means whereby said roller means will be brought intoengagement with the tire portion of said wheels and through theirrotational movement cause said wheel to rotate thereby driving saidwheel into a position where a vertical plane passing through the centerof the axle wheel unit will be strictly coincident with the verticalplane of symmetry of said receiving means.

2. A positioning device according to claim 1 wherein said moving meansfor said slide means comprise hydraulic means.

3. A device for positioning the axle-wheel units of a railway vehicle ona vertical plane through the center of a reprofiling bench comprisingtrack means leading to said reprofiling bench, a termination point onsaid track means, retractable track means disposed adjacent to thetermination point and in alignment therewith, said retractable trackmeans having an extension for guiding said axle and a profile for bothsupporting and guiding said wheel, means to retract said retractabletrack means, receiving means mounted adjacent to said retractable trackmeans and substantially laterally centered in said reprofiling bench,roller means mounted on said receiving means in symmetrical spacedrelationship to a vertical plane through the center of said receivingmeans, driving means operatively connected to said roller means, meansfor vertically moving said receiving means whereby said rollcr meanswill be brought into engagement with said wheels and through theirrotational movement cause said wheel to rotate thereby driving saidwheel to a position wherein a vertical plane passing through the centerof the axle-wheel unit will be strictly coincident with the verticalplane of symmetry of said receiving means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,605,591 8/1952 Hill 104-12,622,378 12/1952 Stanley et al 104l 2,622,374 12/1952 Stanley 104-12,605,591 8/1952 Hill l041 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

D. E. WORTH, Assistant Examiner.

